Author: Anne Orsi

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Topics Announced for 2019 Garden Series

In 2019, we’ll celebrate 10 years of the Mount Holly Garden Series!

The Downtown Dames sponsor gardening lectures in beautiful Mount Holly Cemetery at 9:00 A.M. the third Saturday morning, April through October. Bring a lawn chair and enjoy the beauty of Little Rock’s oldest cemetery, dating to 1843. The Downtown Dames suggest a donation of $5.00 per person to benefits projects at Mount Holly Cemetery. The Downtown Dames provide refreshments and door prizes!

2019 Presentations: 

April 20: “Azalea….. the Queen of Spring” – Ronnie Palmer

May 18: “A Spring Chocolate Tasting” ( History and Trends In Chocolate Making ) – Margo Rowe and Pat Luzzi

June 15:  “Japanese Koi…Exotic Fish from an Exotic Land” – Mark Gibson (Mark will also have locally grown, organic blueberries and blackberries for sale)

July 20: “The Late Blooming Rose Gardener” – Cindy Strauss

August 17:  “Gardening on a Shoestring: Money saving tips for your garden” – Susan Rose.

September 21:  “Culinary Herbs: How to Choose, Grow, and Use!” – Holly Wyman

October 19: “Following Thomas Nuttall : 200 Years Later” – Theo Whitsell, Ecologist and Botanist, Department of Natural Heritage. (Nuttall was an English botanist and zoologist who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1841. Although Lewis and Clark had traveled this way previously many of their specimens had been lost. Therefore, many of the plants collected by Nuttall on this trip were unknown to science. Come and hear Mr. Theo Whitsell, as he shares Mr. Nuttall’s Arkansas discoveries!)

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Save the Date – Spring Picnic 2019

Mount Holly Cemetery, located in the heart of downtown Little Rock, was founded in 1843 when Little Rock businessmen Roswell Beebe and Chester Ashley donated a four block square on the outskirts of the city to be used as a cemetery. In May of that year, a picnic was held on the land and original lots were auctioned off. Over the past 176 years, the size of the cemetery has remained the same, but it has grown into one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the country. It has been referred to as the “Westminster Abbey of Arkansas” due to the number of famous Arkansans buried there. Arkansas governors, state Supreme Court Justices, United States Senators, mayors, and Pulitzer Prize winners share Mount Holly with veterans of every American conflict from the American Revolution to the Gulf War, slaves, businessmen, farmers, artists, doctors, church leaders, and suffragettes.

Today, Mount Holly, surrounded by native stone walls and wrought iron gates, is still an active cemetery and on the National Register of Historic Places. Thousands of people visit Mount Holly annually, entranced by the art of the monuments and beauty of the park-like grounds. The Mount Holly Cemetery Association, a 501(c)3 organization which operates the cemetery, depends upon donations to maintain this historic landmark.

The premier yearly fundraiser, “Restore in Perpetuity: A Picnic on the Grounds of Mount Holly”, is held to commemorate the first picnic in 1843. This year’s event will be held on the cemetery grounds on Sunday, April 28 from 5:00 until 7:00. A buffet of light hors d’oeuvres followed by a box supper will be served. Guests may join tours of the cemetery, enjoy costumed re-enactors portraying prominent residents of Mount Holly, listen to live music, and bid on silent auction items. We invite you to visit Mount Holly and to attend the picnic this spring. For more information, please visit https://mounthollycemetery.org/visit/annual-spring-picnic.

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Remembering the War to End All Wars

On November 11, 1918, an armistice agreement ended the First World War.  More than 65 million soldiers took part in the war. Eight and a half million soldiers died. Another 21 million suffered wounds and more than 7 million were taken prisoner or went missing. The horrors of this intercontinental conflict should have ended all others.

Nearly four and a half million Americans fought in the battles of this terrible modern war. Arkansas sent nearly 72,000 soldiers. Of those, 2,183 died in combat or from disease and 1,751 suffered wounds or injuries.

Mount Holly Cemetery has 56 residents who fought in World War I. Only one of these, George S. Martin, died in the war. George Martin was born in 1894 and died at Fort Dix, New Jersey September 25, 1918. Like many of his brothers in arms – and many others around the globe that year – Private Martin died of the Spanish flu.

To commemorate the centennial of the armistice, the Arkansas Historic Preservations Programs have invited community organizations to ring bells at “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.”

Mount Holly’s bell will ring eleven times to remember our World War I veterans. We invite the public to join us in the cemetery for this event at 11:00 a.m. on November 11, 2018.

More information about the commemoration bells can be found at Arkansas World War I Centennial website.

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Tales of the Crypt Moved to Parkview

The 24th Annual Tales of the Crypt at Mount Holly Cemetery
Rescheduled for Tuesday, October 16, 2018
has been moved!
Tales of the Crypt will be held Tuesday, October 16, 2018
in the AUDITORIUM at
PARKVIEW ARTS & SCIENCE MAGNET HIGH SCHOOL
2501 John Barrow Road
6:30 PM

Tales of the Crypt is sponsored by the Mount Holly Cemetery Association and LRSD Parkview Arts-Science Magnet High School. Admission is free to the public. Donations to Mount Holly Cemetery are appreciated and aid in the maintenance of the cemetery.

Parkview students will recreate the lives of Arkansans who have helped shape Little Rock’s history. The students have researched each character and prepared original scripts for the performance under the direction of Tamara Zinck with award-winning local costumer Debi Manire providing the historical characters’ costumes.

Due to rain last Tuesday evening AND the predicted forecast of rain on Tuesday, October 16th, we made the difficult decision to move the performance to the Parkview Auditorium.

PLEASE DON’T MISS THIS BELOVED EVENT!

We thank you for your patience and understanding and hope to see you on Tuesday, October 16, 2018, at 6:30 pm at the Parkview Auditorium!

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Tales of the Crypt is postponed until next week

Mount Holly and Parkview’s Drama Department have postponed this year’s presentation of Tales of the Crypt.

Stormy weather is predicted to be in Little Rock this evening. While a rollicking thunderstorm enhances a good ghost story, it could damage the performers’ costumes, cause someone to be struck by lightning, douse the lanterns, and make the cemetery a dangerous place to be in the dark.

And besides, we aren’t telling ghost stories at Tales of the Crypt – we’re sharing history.

You’ll still have your chance this year to hear the stories, see the costumes, and enjoy the flickering lanterns of Mount Holly at night. Tales of the Crypt will happen next week, Tuesday, October 16, 2018. Groups will be ushered through the cemetery beginning at 6:00 p.m.

See you next week!

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Why Picnic in a Cemetery?

The birth of Mount Holly Cemetery was described in our cookbook, Recipes in Perpetuity: “With early burials scattered in various places, the city of Little Rock badly needed a public burying ground.  The problem was solved in 1843 when two of the leading citizens donated a four block square on the ‘outskirts’ of the city,  held a picnic on the land in May, and auctioned off the original lots. ”

Picnics remained a tradition in later years when families of those buried at Mount Holly would have a picnic and tend the graves of their loved ones.

Today we have a dedicated Sexton and staff to maintain the grounds, wonderful Master Gardener volunteers, and a hard-working board to care for the cemetery.  One of the most delightful ways we raise funds for the maintenance of this peaceful and historic spot is to invite our friends to celebrate with us at our annual picnic.

Please join us April 29 at 5 p.m. for the annual Spring Picnic at Mount Holly. We won’t put you to work, but we will definitely enjoy your company, let you browse our silent auction items, tour the cemetery with one of our guides, entertain you, and feed you!

Tickets are available online through April 23. Children are $20 and adults are $100.

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It’s time for a spring picnic!

Tickets are now on sale for Mount Holly’s annual Spring Picnic.

Spend time exploring the cemetery’s iconic graves with tour guides from Parkview High School, enjoy Celtic-Ozark music by Lark in the Morning, and watch Parkview High School drama students in period costume reenact tales from the lives of Mount Holly’s famous residents.

Our silent auction will feature works by local artists, gift packages, and special parties hosted by friends of Mount Holly Cemetery.

Appetizers and a box supper will be served, accompanied by lemonade and water. Please join us for the festivities – and bring the family!

Tickets are $100 for adults and $20 for children and are available through Eventbrite.

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Early Morning Accident Damages Pillar

Early Monday morning a single-car accident resulted in damage to the north pillar framing the Broadway entrance to Mount Holly.

The top of the pillar cracked and shifted in the impact and a large stone was knocked from the rear (west-facing) side. The limestone capstone also shifted significantly. A long crack appeared in the recently-repaired north wall next to the pillar.

Fortunately, the driver and his canine passengers seem to have escaped serious injury.

Mount Holly’s sexton, Steve Adams, and city officials have examined the damaged pillar and concluded that falling stone and the possible further collapse of the pillar may present a danger to the public.

To ensure pedestrian and vehicular safety, the Broadway entrance will be closed temporarily and a fence erected around the damage so that no one can get too close to it. Visitors are asked to enter the cemetery from 13th Street.

At this time, we believe that the vehicle that hit the pillar is covered by insurance. The cemetery hopes to work with the insurance company to effect and pay for repairs very quickly.

The cemetery will provide more information as to the cost of repairs and a timeline for them as more information becomes available.

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Let Freedom Ring

Matilda Buchanan, a member of the Mount Holly Cemetery Association, welcomed guests to our commemoration of Arkansas’s ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The event was sponsored by the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission. The commemoration was held at the bell house in the center of the cemetery.

This was her speech:

“April 14, 1865, was a monumental day. That day Arkansas became the 21st state to ratify the amendment to end slavery. That night, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

“On that April day in 1865, Mount Holly Cemetery was just over twenty years old. There were 640 Confederate soldiers buried here. Many were later moved after the war to Oakland Cemetery which had been opened in 1863 mainly to handle the thousands who died in the city’s hospitals during the war. Today  13 Union Soldiers and 217 Confederate Soldiers are buried at Mount Holly.

“The bell house was not here then. It was constructed in 1889, but there may have been a bell in the cemetery in 1865 to summon the sexton. Nevertheless, we stand in a place that connects us to that Little Rock of 150 years ago. Today we gather to reflect on history and to celebrate the ending of a horrible institution which still haunts every American.

“The Sesquicentennial Commission wants us to ring the bell 13 times beginning at 1:00, but I think everyone should ring the bell loudly and as long as we need to.”

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The History of Tales of the Crypt

Susan Taylor Barham taught English at Parkview Arts and Science Magnet and was the original teacher contacted by the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program (AHPP) to start the “Tales of the Crypt” program at Mount Holly.

Knowing that Ms. Barham brought her students to Mount Holly Cemetery to read the poems from Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology, the sexton told the AHPP officials that they might want to contact her about the idea.

Barham enlisted the support of Judy Goss, a creative writing teacher and theatre specialist at Parkview, and Fred Bussey to assist in the project. Thinking we would be doing this as a one-time activity at first we plotted out twelve sites and solicited student performer-writers to assist. Leigh contacted the Arkansas Arts Center.

The costumer at the Arkansas Arts Center loaned us costumes which were placed across a bench. The performers were told to find something that would fit.

The three hundred people that were expected turned into over twelve hundred and the evening lasted until about eleven o’clock rather than the eight-thirty expected finish time. The City of Little Rock accepted the project and it has now continued eighteen years and this past year was to be the first that Susan was not physically present. Even in 2012, when she was fighting cancer, she made an appearance at the program she helped give birth to and loved dearly.

Tales of the Crypt continues to be Mount Holly’s most popular event. It is a wonderful legacy to Susan Taylor Barham’s creativity and commitment to education.